Two confirmed dead in midair plane collision over Calabasas

Federal investigators confirmed Tuesday that the remains of two people were found in the charred wreckage of a small plane that crashed the day before on a steep mountainside in Calabasas, after it collided in midair with another aircraft that managed to make a rough landing on a nearby golf course.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said they would continue to comb the rocky mountainside for clues as to what caused the collision.

What they do know based on radar activity was that the two Cessnas departed minutes from each other from Santa Monica Airport. The Cessna 172 that crashed into the mountainside had made a maintenance request at Santa Monica Airport at 1:30 p.m. Monday. It then was cleared for takeoff at 1:53 p.m. and flew at 3,300 feet, said Howard Plagens, senior investigator with the NTSB.

The other Cessna 172RG left at 1:40 p.m. and was flying at 3,400 feet toward Camarillo. The two collided at 2:01 p.m. Three people on the plane that landed at the Westlake Golf Course suffered minor injuries as a result of that incident, but one was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Federal Aviation Administration investigators spent Tuesday interviewing each one.

Their plane is registered to Ameriflyers of Florida LLC, according to FAA records. Plagens said the three people on board were certified flight instructors. They were from American Flyers, a flight training school at Santa Monica Airport, according to published reports. A man who answered the telephone there said he was not allowed to comment on the case.

"We're waiting for the report," he said.

The plane that crashed into the mountainside, described as a Cessna 172 N64030, sparked a brush fire Monday afternoon. The remains of two bodies were found in the plane, Plagens said.

Plagens said investigators will remove the wreckage in the next few days and reassemble it in a warehouse in Pearblossom. Coroners also will work in the next days to identify the two bodies, he said.

"Today we'll spend the day with what we have that's tangible to document," Plagens said.

But the investigation will turn into one of logistics to try to answer why the collision occurred, and if visibility was a factor. Plagens said one person on the plane that landed on the golf course said birds were a factor.